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Josef Newgarden is one of IndyCar's best, but not long ago, ‘I worried about getting fired every race’

The winner 13 times over. The polished 28-year-old who drives for Team Penske, the best of the best in Indy-car racing over the past half-century.

But what about the nervous and conflicted 21-year-old rookie? Remember him?

He does, vividly.

“When you’re young and you haven’t done it, I worried about getting fired every race,” said Newgarden, who obviously didn’t. The 2017 IndyCar Series champion came to Road America this weekend for the REV Group Grand Prix as the defending race winner and series points leader.

“You can be replaced like that,” he continued, with a snap of his fingers. “It’s the first time you really feel and sense that urgency to do your job, and maybe if you don’t do your job it’ll be taken away from you.

“I remember worrying so much that first year. Even if it was a good race, it’s like, it probably wasn’t good enough. They’re probably going to fire me.”

But that’s also a source of inner conflict. Just as sure as Newgarden knew one crash or one bad practice session would certainly end his career, he was equally certain he would turn in the most sensational rookie season in history, rewrite the record books and be the best. Anywhere. Ever.

“You have to have that desire,” Newgarden said. “That’s the competitive spirit inside of you that longs for that.

“Any driver envisions that. How could you not? Why are you doing this if you don’t want to be the best ever? There’s only one reason to be part of it, and that’s because you’re competitive. So I dreamed of all that.”

The thoughts tug in opposite directions in the psyche of a young driver who has succeeded at the lower levels – in this case won an Indy Lights championship – and is now competing against established teams and experienced drivers at the top of their craft.

“If it doesn’t come quickly, you’re like, is it ever going to happen?” Newgarden said. “Am I any good at this? Was I meant to get here and actually be doing this?

“Expectations are sky high. Like, sky, sky high. Then you have to adjust your expectations. But even once you adjust them, you still hope for the best. You’re still hoping to do things that no one’s ever done before. You want to. You want to be the best to ever do it.”

Although being the best is a huge aspiration, Newgarden is at least headed in the right direction.

The Hendersonville, Tennessee, native started in karting at age 13 in New Castle, Indiana, spent two years racing in Europe and ran out of backing before Sam Schmidt brought him into Indy Lights in 2011. Newgarden won four of 14 races and the title in his only season on the top rung of the development ladder.

The following April, he was on the grid for his first IndyCar race.

Driving for Sarah Fisher’s small team, Newgarden crashed in five of 15 starts and struggled to develop a new car without a teammate, but he did show promise by qualifying in the top 10. He picked his first podium finish in 2013, continued to improve and broke out in ’15. Fischer’s team merged with Ed Carpenter’s, and Newgarden won two races.

By 2016, Newgarden was the hottest name in the silly season. He won just once but finished fourth in the championship for Carpenter, behind three Team Penske drivers and ahead of the more prestigious Andretti and Ganassi teams.

“If I didn’t have that opportunity (with Schmidt), then I don’t know where my career would be,” Newgarden said. “It’s not just one single point that defines it all. But that was one of the building blocks to hopefully getting to the professional level.

“That was a very trying time in my career at least as far as trying to keep the ball moving. It about stopped. Sam was very integral to keeping it going.”

If Schmidt kept Newgarden’s dreams alive in a cutthroat business and Fisher gave him the opportunity in Indy cars, then Roger Penske provided him with a platform to thrive.

Team Penske has racked up 18 Indy 500 wins, more than 500 major victories and 34 national championships. Newgarden wasted no time upon joining in 2017, winning four races and the IndyCar title.

Although Newgarden dropped to fifth last year – due in part to the sort of bad luck that turns second- and third-place finishes into sevenths and eighths – he did win three times and had about as close as anything he’s had to a perfect race at Road America. Newgarden led each session and won from the pole, leading every lap except when he pitted. Strategy and stops were flawless, and Newgarden’s run was clean.

“Ryan (Hunter-Reay) was very quick, and to hit the mileage that we needed, to get the right stops and be in the right window and keep him behind the whole race was really, really difficult,” said Newgarden, who will start fourth Sunday. “We just had no breathing room the entire race, so it makes it quite stressful. If I had any sort of mistake, I think he would have passed me quite easily.”

Fast forward a year. Newgarden leads the series with three victories – including the most recent race, two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway – and five podium finishes through nine races. He leads Alexander Rossi by 25 points and Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud by 48 in the standings.

This isn’t the same kid who walked onto the St. Petersburg grid 7½ years ago and worried whether he’d still have a job come Sunday night.

“You quickly learn how to manage those expectations and emotions and feelings,” Newgarden said. “If you’re lucky enough, you build up a little bit of credit in the bank, metaphorically. You build up this credit with the team with how you perform and the work you put in. Once you build it up it gives you a little bit of comfort that you have something to lean on a little.”

Newgarden has plenty of credit in the bank, and he’s racking up the interest.

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